The Animal House - Adventures in Fostering: May 2010

5/27/10

Where are we now

I am happy to report that Nemo has completely recovered and been adopted into a loving forever home. His name is now Darwin and he is being loved and spoiled as he deserves. We miss him, but are happy to see him doing so well.

April has also returned to the shelter to hopefully find her forever home real soon. She has developed mastitis which happens sometimes when a mom cat stops nursing her kittens. I am hopeful she will recover soon since this is a relatively common thing for a mom cat that was producing as much milk as she was to feed all six kittens.

As for her kittens, we have had our ups and downs. Unfortunately we are in a down swing right now. They are 8 weeks now and should be able to go up for adoption, but are not healthy enough. At first they were just showing mild signs of an upper respiratory infection which will just take time to pass. But on Monday night one of the kittens, Bubbles was very suddenly lethargic and very dehydrated. I quickly gave her some subcutaneous fluids to help her hydration. Subcutaneous fluids (or SubQ fluids) are give by using a needle placed under the skin at the scruff of the neck. The fluid is then quickly absorbed by the kitten.

Bubbles was dehydrated again in the morning when I brought her into the shelter for evaluation. She got more fluids to try to help her out since there did not seem to be any obvious reason for her to be feeling badly. By the time I got her home, she had started having liquid diarrhea almost non-stop and did not want to eat anymore. I force fed her through out the night and cuddled her to make her feel more comfortable. This continued the next day.

Right before bed, I gave Bubbles her SubQ fluids and then went downstairs to the foster room to feed her siblings and was dismayed to see that her brother Quinn was showing all the same signs that Bubbles had shown two days ago. I got him fluids as well and since I was going to be away from the house all day today, I brought the whole litter to the shelter to be observed by the staff because I was very concerned that Bubbles was no better and Quinn was now starting to be sick.

Bubbles and Quinn are now staying at the shelter because they need fluids twice a day and they are not easy to give fluids to. It is also the beginning of Summer Vacation for the 5 year old in my home, which makes it hard to find the time to give the kittens the fluids without her seeing it and potentially scaring her by how they meow and fight when it is being given. So we decided it was best for them to stay at the shelter for a few days.

The rest of the litter, Buffy, Batty, Bailey and Eric came back home with me. I will be watching them closely and crossing my finger that they do not start to feel sick as well. Wish us luck. I will post an update on all of them when I have one.

5/10/10

Nemo - a fighter

Nemo is another foster that we took in right before I ended up with a Kidney stone. He was a failure to thrive kitten from another litter and he just needed more care than he could get in his current foster home. His wonderful foster mother was doing everything that she could for him, but he was still going down hill. He reached the point that he needed Sub-Q (IV) fluids multiple times a day, along with force feeding and multiple medications. She had already been driving him to the shelter once a day for fluids and had his mom and siblings to care for at home.

Since I can do the fluids at home, I offered to take him home and see if I could get him stabilized. We were all very worried that he was not going to make it for even 24 hours after I took him home because he was having massive diarrhea and pooping neon green bile. He was a fighter though and so we were not giving up.

I carried him around with me for days, wrapped up in various blankets that we changed constantly because he as always covered in poop. He got fluids 2 or 3 times a day and a high calorie food mixed with pedialyte to replace the electrolytes he was losing due to the diarrhea, that I was syringe feeding him. After about a week, he was doing a little better and had actually gained some weight, going from 15 oz to 1 lb. 5 oz.

By the time I was in the midst of my medical issues, he was much better, but I was concerned that he might go down hill without me being able to be so one on one with him. Since I was doing everything I could just to feed him, I decided that he needed to go back to the shelter for a while. Thankfully, the wonderful shelter staff and foster coordinators took him back and took wonderful care of him while I could not. And all my friends and other volunteers checked in with him and kept him company. In fact, he went home over a weekend with one volunteer and a friend fell in love with him and plans to adopt him!

I took him back at the beginning of last week and he is now healthy and happy and just about two pounds. He will be heading to a forever home, probably sometime next week!

Nemo day one (a very sick baby)

Kidney stones and force feedings

So Tiny

Cuddling with Sadie and Doyle

Feeling better

Nurse Nemo (right after my surgery)

Ready for a Forever Home

Kidney Stones and Growing Kittens

Hello again from the animal house. Things have been a little crazy here lately because I ended up in the ER with a kidney stone. Just in case anyone was wondering, I do not recommend it, it is very painful. And me, being me, things did not go normally. 4 ER visits, 2 surgeries, 1 severe allergic reaction, 1 ambulance ride, 2 shots of epinephrine, and 2 stents later, I am finally kidney stone free and (knock on wood) on the mends.

Of course, during all of this, April's babies have been growing like weeds. They are now about five weeks old and finally all have names. We have the girls, Batty, Buffy and Bubbles and the boys, Bailey, Quinn and Eric.

We have also had a few health issues. April, the mom, had an upper respiratory infection and was dehydrated. I tried to supplement the kittens with formula to help her out, but they would not have it. Thankfully, April LOVED the formula and just drank it herself. So I started adding it to her food everyday and between that and the meds, she is doing fine. Batty and Bubbles were born with some sort of eye infections and each had one eye that would not open and had puss coming out of it. Bubbles' eye responded quickly to meds, but Batty's just finally cleared up. Bailey, looks like he might be coming down with something so I will have to keep an eye on him over the next few days, but over all they are growing and developing like normal. They are now starting to eat solid food - although mom is not that keen on sharing. Here are some photos of them growing:

Mom, April resting with Buffy